Brits ripped off on sunshine holidays

BRITONS are paying up to £237 a head more than German and Dutch travellers for exactly the same holiday in the sun. Trading standards officers have called for the European Commission to investigate the 45% premium, which was uncovered by the consumer watchdog Which?

A week-long mid-September package at the Riu Palace Maspalomas Hotel in Gran Canaria is priced at £760 for British holidaymakers. But the same deal can be booked in Germany for £575 and in Holland for £523.

For a party of four the differential is almost £1,000. In Britain the bill would be £3,040, in Germany £2,300 and in Holland £2,092.

The holiday highlighted by investigators is offered by Thomson, whose German parent company TUI sells the same package on the continent. TUI owns the hotel, which gives it control over prices and service standards.

Even though they are paying considerably less, TUI's German clients are also given the perk of free rail transfer to the airport while British customers have to buy their own tickets or drive and pay the cost of parking.

Bruce Treloar, package holiday expert at the Trading Standards Institute, said the practice may be illegal. 'British travellers will feel totally aggrieved by this news,' he said. 'The EU is supposed to be a free single market. There is no good reason why companies should be allowed to favour one consumer against another or one nation against another. The European Commission should have a look at this.'

Which? said the brochures in Germany and Holland were also much clearer in terms of resort information and pricing. Bob Tolliday, editor of the magazine Holiday Which?, described the price difference between the three countries as 'absurd'.

'If TUI can offer these prices to holidaymakers in Germany and Holland, they should be able to offer them to the Brits as well,' he said. 'The British-booked package had the same departure date, same flight time, same hotel and the same standard of room.

'The holiday we looked at was not out of the ordinary or unusual in any way. Any price difference should be minimal. But there was a huge mark-up. The price disparity is so great that I would expect the same thing will be happening with other holidays sold by the company.' He said a ruling that the discrimination is illegal could set a precedent for holiday companies and other sectors.

The Daily Mail revealed on Saturday how UK travellers trying to pre-book entry to Disneyworld in Florida have a restricted choice of expensive tickets compared with Europeans and Americans.

Last year, Center Parcs was charging British families up to £126 a week more than their European counterparts to stay at its continental sites. This differential has now narrowed. There has also been evidence that Britons are charged more to fly the Atlantic or travel on Eurostar than other nationalities.

The European Commission is currently investigating Apple over the fact it charges British music lovers more to download tracks from its iTunes service than users from other European Union nations.

A spokesman for TUI UK defended the pricing policy. He said: 'We are a British company and operate separately to other TUI companies within Europe. TUI UK's holiday prices are relevant and competitive to the British holiday market.

'Prices will reflect the local market and demand for holidays in particular resorts. It must also be remembered that there are different costs involved in the running of the businesses in these countries in relation to staff and taxes.'

Thomas Cook, which is also German-owned, said: 'It doesn't make sense to compare holiday prices from different countries as there are so many factors that vary.

'These include departure taxes from UK airports, costs to operate different types of aircraft and the contract rates with hotels. The overheads of companies vary from country to country too, as does the competitive environment, and even the average salary and cost of living.'

Holiday airlines come under fire today over worsening delays and poor service. Almost 10% of charter flights were more than 60 minutes late in 2004, while for some airlines more than 25% were over an hour late.

The performance of all but one of the major holiday airlines declined last summer, according to the Air Transport Users Council. The average delay across 22 charter airlines rose to 23.4 minutes, from 19.7 the year before. The worst performer was Air Atlanta Europe with Bmi second.